DVD Shows How to Make Indie Films -- Guerrilla Style; `RADIUS' Sci-Fi DVD Includes ``Guerrilla-Film-School-on-Disk''.

LOS ANGELES -- First-Time Director Takes You Through the Highs/Lows of Indie Filmmaking

K2 Films today announced the release of its sci-fi action film, RADIUS, available now for purchase on a 2-disk DVD ($19.95) at www.radiusmovie.com. RADIUS also features a DVD first: an unprecedented "Guerrilla-Film-School-on-Disk," which offers 26 filmmaking lessons and over 4.5 hours of frank, real-world advice on how to make an indie film on an ultra-low budget, using RADIUS as the model.

The RADIUS 2-disk DVD is an epic of independent, guerrilla filmmaking. Despite being shot on 35mm film in extreme locations such as California's Death Valley, and featuring over 150 visual effects shots, RADIUS was made by a first-time director on a budget of under $60,000 -- less than the budgets of most TV commercials.

First-time director Helmut Kobler drained savings accounts and credit cards to raise RADIUS' meager budget. What followed was a grueling filmmaking odyssey: shooting in 120 degree Death Valley heat, coaxing favors from cast, crew and suppliers, and conjuring up every other guerrilla filmmaking trick to get the film done.

This war-story is familiar among indie film productions, except that Kobler meticulously video-taped the entire project, from early casting sessions to RADIUS' final sound mix. "I wanted to give people an in-the-trenches feel for what it's like to make a guerrilla film, through the good times and the bad," said Kobler.

So Kobler created RADIUS' "Guerrilla-Film-School-on-Disk," personally editing and narrating 26 documentary videos, with each video dedicated to a specific filmmaking step. Topics include: casting, location scouting, storyboards, costume design, set design, props, cinematography, on-set production, film editing, sound, visual effects, music, marketing, and more.

Said Kobler: "I wanted to make this fun for everyday film fans who love moviemaking stories, because the story behind RADIUS is pretty hair-raising in itself: part action, part thriller, part drama, part horror." But, according to Kobler, the DVD's greatest appeal will be with legions of homebrew, aspiring filmmakers who are empowered with today's digital video technology. "Most importantly, I wanted the 'Guerrilla-Film-School-on-Disk' to be educational for all those indie filmmakers using PCs and video cameras to make their own movies. I wanted RADIUS to be a real-world, hard-knocks film school for people that are thinking about doing what I did."

The RADIUS Story

Shot down behind enemy lines, pilot Mariella Dain has one last chance to hit the enemy where it hurts: arm her ship's CraterMaker warhead, and wipe a key Gemini power center off the map.

Now Dain and her crew have 30 minutes to escape the blast, but as the clock ticks down, she finds herself drawn back -- to the bomb, and something far worse.

Other Production Details

Despite giving RADIUS a polished, professional look, the production crew relied on classic, inspired penny-pinching to get the film done. RADIUS' costume designer fashioned gritty soldiers' uniforms from painters' overalls and fishing vests bought at a thrift store. The film's small art team built a crashed space ship with raw lumber from Home Depot. It also created a key grenade prop by spray painting a Red Bull soft drink can silver, and adding a Tabasco sauce bottle cap as the grenade's detonator. RADIUS' visual effects artists worked on everyday personal computers, instead of expensive workstations. Finally, director Helmut Kobler edited all of RADIUS' video footage and authored the 2-disk DVD using a Macintosh laptop, usually working from his local Starbucks in Los Angeles.

For more information about RADIUS, including film trailers and behind-the-scenes video clips, visit www.radiusmovie.com. Or call Helmut Kobler at 310-228-7106.

RADIUS (C) K2 Films, Inc. 2004